They repeated the Milgram experiment in France. In the new one, 80% of the people failed it dramaticly, versus the original's 65% agreed give the subject lethal-level shocks. Under the pressure of an authority, of a large and cheering group, we don't behave as humanely as we'd like to think we would. Most of us will crumble, fall, bow to the pressure, the impulse to be one with the herd, the flock, to do as we're told.

I can see the benefit to such behaviors, keeping with the mores and security of the tribe, the clan, the community and nation. But I can also see the horror of it; and it's no pleasant thing to know how far most of us would fall before a suitably domineering authority.

We would like to believe we are far from the likes of "roman savages" who had gladiators fight to the death or slaughter exotic animals for entertainment. But in the end, it would seem, we haven't come that far at all.